David Moyes has claimed Everton have disproved Rafael Benítez's theory that Liverpool's neighbours are a "small club" as the Merseyside rivals prepare to renew hostilities in the FA Cup at Anfield on Sunday.

The Liverpool manager's belittling of his local rivals, following the frustration of a goalless draw and a defensive display from Everton at Anfield, prompted a furious reaction from officials at Goodison Park in 2007. Moyes refused to comment on the accusation at the time and, with his side aiming to qualify for Europe for a third successive season and seeking to improve on Monday's draw with Liverpool in the fourth round, the Everton manager today claimed Benítez's comment carries no weight. "It doesn't rankle with me, no," said the Scot. "We have proved that we are not and we don't need to talk about it."

Moyes has not won at Anfield in almost seven years as Everton manager and admits Cup success is overdue at Goodison, although he denied Tim Cahill's 87th-minute equaliser in the league meeting on Monday offers any psychological advantage to the visitors on Sunday.

The Everton manager said: "I don't think it struck any blow for us because that was the Premier League and the FA Cup is completely different. I want us to improve on our performance again. Hopefully another one will see us through. We have tended not to have particularly good runs in the competition, partly through our own doing and partly because we have had unfortunate draws. We are trying to put that right."

Moyes had hoped to improve his forward options before the Cup tie, with the Portugal international Hugo Almeida of Werder Bremen among those under offer. "We have got offers in for a couple of players to take them on loan. We are waiting on replies back from a couple of clubs," he admitted.

In the absence of new additions the Everton manager is likely to field the same team that held Liverpool on Monday and Moyes has challenged Victor Anichebe, his only fit striker, to seize the opportunity to impress alongside Cahill. He added: "Victor has been thought of as a young boy for a long time and he has to step up and become part of the squad. On his day he can be a real handful. He took a knock in the game on Monday but he's trained and I expect him to be OK. I think he knows that, when you get opportunities in football, you have to be ready for them. But I think Victor is ready and I'm sure he will do it again. Victor will continue to get chances to show what he can do."

Moyes was not the only person throwing verbal grenades the way of Benítez yesterday. The ink on his loan transfer to Portsmouth barely dry, Jermaine Pennant wasted no time in directing a bitter tirade at the Liverpool manager, accusing him of footballing anglophobia.

Pennant, 26, has left Anfield for Ports­mouth for six months until his contract at Liverpool runs out in the summer by when he hopes Milan and Real Madrid would have renewed their interest. But the chances of him ever going back to Liverpool would appear to have ended when he said Benítez had frozen him out, picking him only twice for Premier League starts and then telling him he was free to go.

Pennant, an England Under-21 winger, said: "I think he refused to pick me because I was English. I don't know if it is the English mentality he dislikes but there are not a lot of English players at Liverpool.

"I have mentioned the same thing when I was at Arsenal so I guess I have not had much luck with foreign managers.

"Last season I played 34 games and in a Champions League final the previous year for Rafa but he has had a change of plans. It is not for me to question the manager because he has done so well for Liverpool but it seems strange that I have gone from playing every week to training on my own on Saturday afternoons."

"I have been speaking to a lot of Liverpool players and they could not understand why I was not in the team.

"It was the same with Peter Crouch. He had to get away to get a regular game and he advised me to join him at Portsmouth."

Pennant indicated that Real Madrid and Milan had spoken to his agent before he joined his former Liverpool colleague Peter Crouch, who suffered similar exclusion at Anfield, on the south coast.